Rookie recruiters are taught how to gain exclusivity; why it’s best for you and best for the client (it was this funny video from Juice that got me started on the subject) . We aren’t talking about retained assignments this is about asking a client to commit to allowing you to work on role on a solo basis for a period of time. Greg Savage feels strongly about this and has a video on exclusive job orders as well as a blog post on why giving a role to multiple agencies is wrong.
I agree with Greg to some extent in that agencies don’t necessarily work better when pitched against others, clients who play parties off against one another aren’t truly committed to the recruitment of the best person and a recruiter who knows their (excellent) candidates have a good chance of being seen are likely to work harder. However, what about those times when you SHOULDN’T ask for exclusivity.
What about stepping back for a minute and looking at the bigger picture. Why do hiring managers resist exclusivity? It’s because experience has told them that it doesn’t always work for them. Experience has told them that sometimes it works better if you throw your net wide. Every hiring manager will have a story about a recruiter who could talk the talk but at the end of the day sent CVs they could have found themselves on LinkedIn, who didn’t listen to the brief and who wasted their time with dreadful candidates. These hiring managers fight very hard against exclusivity whilst junior recruiters are trained to go for it every time.
Am I right in thinking this builds a vicious cycle of recruiters making promises which frankly they can’t always keep and hiring managers muttering about cowboy recruiters?
You’d think I’m stating the bleedin obvious by saying the solution should meet the situation but sadly I’m not. If you are a junior recruiter do learn the skills needed to ask for exclusivity but have the sense to know when you can take advantage of a contingency non-exclusive assignment. Realise that all the other recruiters are giving this assignment very little effort and so take the initiate and beat them. Sometimes, when you KNOW you have the perfect candidates, those low commitment assignments are easier pickings.
Of course the real key is to stop asking for exclusivity and ask for a retainer….
Why would anyone try to teach a trainee recruiter to pitch for exclusivity?
This makes about as much sense as asking your 14 year old daughter to park your car.
I’m baffled by that video. Is Recruitment Juice trying to be pro or anti exclusivity?
HI Mitch,
Recruitment Juice recognises the fact that exclusivity is the right thing to ask for in certain situations. The video you saw is an intro to the subject within our Senior Consultant Series on the Juice Talent Development Platform.
Hi Matt
What point about selling exclusivity is the video trying to make?
what a crap article.
1 – dont take on work you can’t fill
2 – get exclusivity / retainer and fill it properly – don’t just hope the one candidate you think is right is right for it without doing a search.
The attitude described is why recruitment gets a bad name and how the whole ‘rat race’ philosophy came about in the first place.
I am making exactly the same point as you. Why does that make the article crap? I think you’ll find that I am saying that the attitude described is why recruitment gets a bad name….